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Businesses Frustrated With Highway 75 Construction

McKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) – The price of progress is too high for some businesses in McKinney. Business owners along the stretch of Highway 75 from El Dorado to Highway 380 knew the highway expansion would be a nuisance. But for some the digging has gotten a little too close for comfort.

Tony Nevotti thought his car dealership would have more than just two Fiat lengths of space between his showroom and the new Highway 75 service road.

“It’s a little disturbing. I don’t think we envisioned it being this close to the front of my business,” says Nevotti. “To think that cars are going to be going by at 50 miles an hour within 30 feet of my front door is a little harrowing.”

Taylor Dorman is putting up more signs to attract business to his car wash now that the entrance is hidden behind dirt and construction barrels.

“I’d say we’ve lost some business,” he says. “I wouldn’t say we’ve lost too much, but it is a concern if it stay this way for long.”

More than 400 businesses line this corridor. Since work began in February to add more lanes to the service road, some businesses have had entrances blocked. Others have complained about portable toilets and construction equipment blocking their store fronts.

City officials say it’s a state road project, so there is not much they can do other than put up signs to encourage retail traffic to the area.

The city has sent letters urging businesses to pass along questions and concerns. Some restaurants on the route are offering special deals to attract business. One fast food restaurant went to the extreme of shutting down its location and moving off the highway. Others have little choice than to stick it out.

J.D. is an award-winning reporter who has been covering North Texas for CBS 11 since 1996. He began his career in Longview and also worked as a reporter in Johnson City, Tennessee and Tulsa, Oklahoma. But he's a native Texan who was born in Dall...